Sprint Bets Its Spectrum Will Suffice

Sprint on Saturday announced that it will sit out the next FCC spectrum auction. Instead of bidding for the low-band spectrum that will be on offer, Sprint — which is running neck-and-neck with T-Mobile, the self-styled “Un-Carrier” — will focus on improving its network. It could be the last low-band auction the industry sees for decades, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said this summer. Up for grabs at the next auction are 600-MHz bands — wireless spectrum coveted for the ability of its deep wavelengths to penetrate the thick undergrowth and subterranean passages of concrete jungles. Sprint has concluded that it has more than enough low-band spectrum to build out what it already owns and that it doesn’t need to spend billions on more. The decision to sit this one out won’t harm Sprint, said wireless analyst Jeff Kagan. “Many people are surprised to learn that Sprint has a very healthy amount of spectrum, so they don’t have the same need as other competitors,” he told the E-Commerce Times. Every carrier has a different amount of spectrum, Kagan noted. AT&T and Verizon have enough low-band spectrum, for now, “but because they have the majority of market share, the demands on their supply are much higher. So they need to keep adding to their spectrum supply.” T-Mobile has very little spectrum, and that’s a serious concern going forward, said Kagan. Legere earlier this year posted a video to YouTube, urging consumers to demand the FCC limit the spectrum available to the big… [Read full story]

AT&T on Wednesday announced that it will boost capital spending by as much as 16 percent to US$22 billion a year for the next three years to upgrade its wireless and wireline networks. The increase is necessary to compete with Verizon Communications, which is currently upgrading its own network.The network expansion plans call for a budget of $8 million to allow about 300 million people to access to its 4G LTE network by year-end 2014.AT&T has "been active in many ways, including procuring new spectrum through a combination of deals and repurposing WCS spectrum for LTE," said AT&T spokesperson Lauren…... [Read more]

Sprint will merge its broadband wireless operations with WiMax firm Clearwire in a multifaceted deal that will create a US$14.5 billion venture to expand high-speed wireless connectivity across the U.S.In addition to merging the two companies' broadband wireless operations, the deal calls for Google, Intel through Intel Capital and cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to take stakes in the combined entity. The firms' investments total $3.2 billion, with Comcast investing $1.05 billion, Intel $1 billion, Time Warner $550 million, Google $500 million and Bright House $100 million.The joint venture will seek to bring WiMax-based high-speed…... [Read more]

In a surprise move, Japanese mobile operator Softbank has made a deal to acquire a 70 percent stake in Sprint, the United States’ number-three mobile operator. At $20 billion, the takeover represents Softbank’s largest overseas acquisition to date — and the biggest deal inked by a Japanese company in the United States in something like three decades. Acquiring Sprint gives Softbank a major entry point into the still-growing U.S. mobile market — perhaps a welcome move, since Japan’s mobile market is mostly stagnant.However, for Sprint customers the takeover brings uncertainty. What will change at Sprint once Softbank is holding the…... [Read more]

AT&T may have tried and failed to scoop up T-Mobile’s precious swaths of wireless spectrum, but that doesn’t mean the air is off the market. On Monday, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile announced a complex deal of spectrum swaps and sales that, Verizon hopes, will help earn regulatory approval for Verizon Wireless’s proposed $3.6 billion purchase of unused spectrum licenses from cable companies. T-Mobile had been one of many voices opposing that deal, saying it would effectively put even more spectrum into the hands of the company that’s already the nation’s largest mobile operator — which could be bad for competition…... [Read more]

Sprint Nextel notified subscribers late last week that it was doing away with its unlimited 4G wireless broadband for tablets, netbooks, notebooks, USB cards and mobile hotspot devices -- almost every mobile device, that is, except smartphones, which it has famously promised to allow to consume unlimited data.The company is clamping down on users of other devices, though, without even the benefit of a grandfather clause for pre-existing customers. Starting in November, these users will be switched to the limited plans.Sprint had provided unlimited 4G data access along with its 3G service, which comes with caps of 3 GB, 5…... [Read more]